The Activity: A Special Operations Comic Book

In a dark corner of American special operations there exists, alongside the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s Osama bin Laden-killing SEAL Team Six, a small unit of Army spies known as the Intelligence Support Activity.

Created more than 30 years ago, the ISA has had its hand in almost every high-profile American special operation around the world in recent history, and countless others, according to published reports and special operations veterans with firsthand knowledge of the group.

And though relatively little is known about the secret unit — the military still refuses to acknowledge its existence — a new, colorful picture of the group has emerged through, of all things, a comic book.

In the panels of the comic “The Activity,” writer Nathan Edmondson and artist Mitch Gerads create a cell-shaded version of the ISA’s world in which the plot is fictional, but much of the rest rings true, even to those few familiar with the comic’s real-life counterpart.

One former member of the special operations community, who requested anonymity to speak about the ISA, told ABC News that while the comic clearly condenses intelligence-gathering timelines and significantly expands the ISA’s duties for the sake of dramatic story telling, he was surprised at its overall accuracy.

About the Author

Jack Murphy
is an eight year Army Special Operations veteran who served as a Sniper and Team Leader in 3rd Ranger Battalion and as a Senior Weapons Sergeant on a Military Free Fall team in 5th Special Forces Group.
Having left the military in 2010, he graduated from Columbia with a BA in political science. Murphy is the author of Reflexive Fire, Target Deck, Direct Action, and numerous non-fiction articles about Weapons, Tactics, Special Operations, Terrorism, and Counter-Terrorism. He has appeared in documentaries, national television, and syndicated radio.

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Think4Future

JackMurphyRGR I know I'm late to the party, but I just picked up The Activity. While I was reading I came across a shout out of sorts to Sofrep. Its on the first computer.
http://imgur.com/lkpUal2

fubar

Can any branch of special operations or intel unit go to the Activity's selection?

ThePatriots

Tango9 JackMurphyRGR JHR I was thinking on what Jack said regarding "less multicam and more cocktail dress" and I'm pretty sure we can have both or very close to it. I may or may have not have just ordered this for someone... http://tinyurl.com/czvgsew

Tango9

JHRTango9"Mornin T9. I am going to PM you in the TR.
I haven't set foot in TR since some things did some things to some other things. I'm findable via lauraKC, jack, brandon, oldph2, tk, and various other folks. I'm not too hard to track, just watch for claymores and punji pits (I like the punji pits).

Tango9

JackMurphyRGR JHR Tango9 Don't know about you guys but I prefer a woman that makes me sleep with 1 eye open. I like scary women.